Ghost of Mind Episode Two

By Odette C. Bell

Is she alone?
Alice is alive. Though barely. And the universe is looking for her. Having revealed her true power, the hunt will never stop.
Yet now she has something to live for. There might be more of her people out there.
It sets her on a mission to the Rim, alongside the one man she has convinced herself she can never trust, Commander John Doe.
Will the risk be worth it? Or will Alice condemn herself and the galaxy with her?
....
Ghost of Mind follows a hidden powerful alien and a soldier tasked to find her fighting through plots, intrigue, and the past to save the modern galaxy. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Ghost of Mind Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Sep 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301711475

Book preview

Chapter 1

Alice

It’d been several days since her ordeal, and Alice was only just getting over the energy drain of calling the complete shield into place.

Helper had taken her to safety, and only now was Alice rousing from unconsciousness long enough to ascertain her situation.

As always, it was bleak. At least she was alive, and at least she was no longer alone.

As far as she could tell, she was still on the planet, though as far away from John Doe and that docking ring as she could get.

For the past several hours, she’d been lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling above her, her eyes wide and fixed as the sunlight trickled in through the smart glass above.

There was one thought running around her mind. Her people. The Old Ones. Could they still be alive?

As she lay there and stared up, she knew that Helper was still by her side, still concertedly trying to run through Orion Major’s ICN in order to ascertain the truth of Evelyn’s statement.

It was too much to take in. And fueled on by her swirling fatigue, Alice’s mind became stuck in a loop of obsession. All she could think about was what Evelyn had said.

Occasionally, just at the edge of Alice’s mind, one other thought would intrude. John Doe. She could see the perfect picture of him leaning down toward her, the blue discharge of the complete shield crackling over his features. The look in his eyes was one she would never forget.

She had no idea what it meant.

Bringing a hand up slowly, Alice nestled into it, spreading her fingers wide over her nose, cheeks, and brow.

It is not suggested that you move, Helper said from somewhere by her side. Unless and until we can find an omidium core for you to recharge near, it is suggested that you stay completely still to preserve energy. I am Helper, I will help you, he added at the end. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and maybe it was to reassure Alice or himself that he really could get them through this.

Because the odds were pretty grim, weren’t they? Yes, Helper was an astounding piece of technology, and yes, Alice was the last of the Old Ones, but in her current state she was nothing but a liability.

And John would be after her. Hell, the rest of the Union would know about her by now, and every ship, person, and resource would be directed to find her.

Again she got the intruding image of John leaning down next to her, separated by nothing but that shield.

She groaned into her hand.

It is not suggested that you move, Helper said again, his tone higher and tighter. Even making noises may tax you. Rest, Old One.

Ever since Helper had accessed the ICN and downloaded the complete history of the universe for the past 100,000 years, he had taken to calling Alice an Old One.

It only served to heighten how very tired she felt.

But she was alive. And that was something.

Chapter 2

John Doe

He was standing in his bedroom. He knew he should go to bed – he hadn’t had any sleep for the past 36 hours. But it wasn’t going to happen. He paced around just at the foot of his bed, occasionally staring out the windows or turning over his shoulder to look back at his junk-covered table.

Once or twice his eyes would dart toward the empty frame on his bedside table. The one that had held the strange metal ball he had picked up on Earth. The one that was now very much gone.

She had taken it.

And he had no idea what she was.

For possibly the 1000th time, John clamped a hand over his nose, pressed his thumb into the bridge, and kinked his lips in a strange half-smile half-sneer.

He’d never seen anything like that shield. It was off the charts. There was no mention of such a thing in the Union database, and as they had scanned it while that woman lay comatose on the other side, all the data they’d received had been incredible.

What are you? he asked again.

There was no one to answer – just him and his empty room.

I’ll find you, he said, voice hesitant. There was no reason to whisper, no reason to be quiet – no one could hear him. And yet he could hardly push those words out. Because they seemed fantastic, didn’t they? Her abilities, the technology she could command, and everything she had gone through – could someone like John Doe actually ever find her? Let alone hope to capture her?

Shaking his head, letting his hand drop to his side, John walked over to his windows behind his bed.

The view, as always, was incredible.

They were still docked on Orion Major, and their mission, for now, had been put on hold. Though John knew it would not be put off forever. Though he wanted nothing more than to stay on Orion Major and hunt that woman down, it would be taken out of his hands. Because John already had a priority. Whoever she was, and whatever she was capable of, John’s mission still stood, it was still important in the eyes of the Union.

Walking over to the wall and leaning a hand into it, John let the tension in his shoulders pour out.

It wasn’t fair, though. And even though it sounded childish, in a way he felt like he had found the woman, and it was up to him to be the one to track her down.

The Union, of course, would not feel that way.

And John had no doubt that they would throw everything they had into ascertaining what she was and just what she could do.

Still leaning against the wall, John looked up slowly.

It was night time. And the view, well, it was incredible.

He could see right up through the thin atmosphere to the stars above. Just a glimmer and a twinkle here, not the full expanse of cosmos that he would see in space, but still, a view not to be forgotten.

It is approximately two hours before your next shift, the computer in his room chimed, it is suggested that you use this time to gain some rest.

John shook his head. He didn’t need the computer telling him to sleep. Sometimes it would act like his mother. What he needed was to find her. And soon. Because if he didn’t, he would continue on his merry way to the Rim, possibly never to see her again. Never to find out what view was under that veil, and just what she was underneath.

Let it go, get some sleep, John said through clenched teeth.

And even though he finally cajoled himself into lying down and closing his eyes, sleep was far from the agenda.

Because the only thing he could see was her lying comatose behind that shield. He’d been there for hours, as scientists had gone crazy around him trying to penetrate the shield but failing. He’d been right there. Then he’d leaned down when she had finally woken.

It was a powerful, tactile memory that seemed to be stuck in his body. And every time it flickered before his mind, it felt as if his knees wanted to crunch down, his hand fall to the ground, and his face pull up as if he was staring at her again.

As John Doe finally fell asleep, a promise formed on his lips.

He would find her. No matter how long it took and no matter where it took him, John Doe was going to pull back the hood.

Chapter 3

Alice

I can’t believe this, she said again through a hearty croak that shook through her throat. Are you sure?

I am afraid the answer is affirmative. I cannot ascertain what the origin of this signal is, and neither can I lock onto it. The only device capable of doing this is aboard the Pegasus, Helper said, and as he spoke uncharacteristically his voice seemed to dwindle, quieten as if he was scared to share his words.

He had nothing to fear from Alice – even though everything was going to hell, a part of her realized how lucky she was to finally have help. A friend. Company. Someone to rely on. The past several weeks may have brought her the specter of John Doe and the possibility of her worst nightmares coming true, but at least it had brought her help too.

Closing her eyes, squeezing her hand over her nose, letting her fingernails grate into the flesh, Alice eventually shook her head. I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to that docking ring. He’s going to be looking for me. Hell, everybody in the entire universe is going to be looking for me, she said as she puffed air through her tightly clenched teeth.

It is an overestimation to believe that everybody in this universe will be looking for you, Alice. Some will be eating, some will be dying, some will be plowing fields, some will be attending to engines, some will be stealing, some will be running businesses, Helper began.

She put a hand up quickly, lest the little electronic ball ran through every single possible task somebody could be doing in the universe if they weren’t looking for Alice at that moment. I get it, I really do, but going back to the docking ring is suicide, she said, her voice ringing with emotion.

She had no doubt that it would be.

I thought that you had already agreed that, when our priorities would change, our strategy would too. When we found something worth fighting for, we would alter the way we are prepared to fight for it, Helper said. Though his tone was clear and sharp, it didn’t seem he was trying to lecture her.

Though in a way it was a lecture. He had to remind Alice of something she kept on persistently forgetting. To be fair to her, the reason she couldn’t hold on to that fact was that she had led a life of paranoia and suspicion. The idea that she could now prance around the galaxy, using all of her special powers and bringing attention to herself, just because she now had the prospect of her people to find, shook her bones and rattled her soul. It went against everything she had ever taught herself.

While I do not suggest we do anything inherently dangerous or bring attention to ourselves in a way unnecessary and likely to draw fire from the Union, I do suggest that we must risk in order to gain. I believe that if we are careful, and that if we are diligent, we can steal aboard the docking ring, gain access to the Pegasus, and run this test. For if we do not do this, how else will we find out whether the Old Ones are still alive?

Alice looked at Helper with suspicion. For a little computer that seemed to be so fond of computing every single possibility in the universe around every potential circumstance, he appeared to be leaving something out here. Going back to the docking ring, risking coming face-to-face with John Doe, wasn’t the only way to find out this information. Sure, right now it seemed convenient, but Alice knew that if they let this chance pass, another would come upon them.

It’s just too risky, she said again. She was now on her feet, though whenever she moved or took a step, it was tentative and wobbly. Her legs felt like jelly. Her arms were so light and weak that she could hardly move her fingers, let alone try to pick anything up.

Every blink she took was a labored one, and she had to take rests every five minutes or so. In her current state, she was almost perfectly useless. If they did steal back aboard the docking ring, and somehow, some-precious-how try to get aboard the Pegasus, Alice would be nothing but a big fat liability.

A liability that the rest of the universe was trying very hard to catch.

There are approximately 2324 manipulations I can make to the ICN in order to get us back aboard the primary docking ring safely. There are approximately 312 manipulations I can make to the Pegasus to allow us to get aboard without detection. Once aboard, there are approximately— he began.

Alice shook her head sharply, and thankfully the little robot took it as a signal to stop.

She didn’t need to know exactly how many hundreds of thousands of ways Helper could get them aboard the Pegasus. Because there was something he wasn’t calculating here. The number of ways John Doe could try to find her. Because she had underestimated him in the past. Grossly. He was clever and determined, awfully determined. She’d been stupid enough to fight him, and then dumb enough to walk outside of the protective field of the energy spire on top of the docking ring. He’d somehow found her on Orion Major in the first place. He’d somehow managed to get a transport lock on her twice.

John Doe couldn’t be underestimated. So while there might have been a fantastic number of ways to steal aboard the Pegasus, it was still an enormous risk.

Sighing, letting her breath push out through her lips, puffing them up and slackening her cheeks as she let go of all the tension in her body, Alice closed her eyes.

Despite how much she didn’t want to do this, a part of her knew that Helper would only be suggesting it if in honestly he thought it was the best option.

Her people.

Could they be alive?

It just couldn’t be true. Because if it was true, then that made Alice’s reality, her life, a truly sad one. To have labored under the false assumption that she was the last of her kind was a tragedy. It was also foolish. A waste. If only she had known sooner, she herself could have dedicated her meaningless life to finding them.

Forcing her eyes open, she stared over at Helper.

He had zoomed up to her face and was hovering a respectful 30 centimeters away from her nose, no doubt locking every sensor he had on her to check that she wasn’t about to fall over or succumb to the chaotic meltdown that would occur whenever she lost control of her emotions and fear.

I’m fine, she said slowly.

My suggestion is that we act upon this information now. While there are other ships that may have the equipment we require, I suggest we get as close to this woman called Evelyn as we can, Helper said.

It was the first time he had suggested that, and it made Alice’s brow crumple hard over her eyes. Her cheeks were stiff, her jaw locked into position, and it took her a long time to open her lips. Why?

I have identified that she’s a member of the Aurora Project. Though I have been unable, at this stage, to gain information through the Union Database that will allow me a full understanding of this group, we do know that their mission is to create an implant that will allow the wearer to interact directly with Old Technology.

Alice already knew this, but every single time Helper repeated it, she couldn’t help but go through the same reaction. Her stomach tightened with a kick, her hands forced themselves up into tight fists, and her teeth clenched together.

Because she could remember. She could remember that woman taking Helper from her, trying to manipulate her very own hood.

And it had felt so wrong. It felt like a violation, not of Alice, but of the very energy and potential that connected her to Old Technology.

I am intrigued, and as the last member of the old race, or at least the last currently detected member of the old race, you should also be intrigued. I admit that my understanding of my own kind is weak, Helper said, zipping to and fro as he spoke, possibly excited that he now had Alice’s attention, and I do not know and cannot foresee the consequences of what such an implant would be, but it bears further investigation.

Yes, it bloody did. Because Alice didn’t know either.

Which she could add to the pile of things she had no idea about when it came to her own technology, her own people. Alice, after all, hadn’t grown up in the bosom of the founding fathers and mothers. She had grown up alone. With her own Helper unit, yes, but he’d been incapable of filling in the incredible gaps in Alice’s knowledge.

All she knew was that the Old Ones had disappeared. 100,000 years ago. And that their technology, the incredible devices they had scattered throughout the universe, ran only on the special kind of power she could generate within. She felt connected to it, she understood it on a deep level, but that was about as far as her knowledge of their technology went.

She couldn’t tell what an implant like the one that Evelyn had would do. But every sense and intuition she had told her it would not end well.

"That woman, Helper said, his voice quite possibly rattling on the word, should be studied. The implant should be studied," Helper seemed to hesitate for a moment.

It was one of the many indications that he wasn’t just a robot – that, like all Old Tech devices, he was so much more.

The ghost in the machine.

I won’t let her get hold of you again, Alice said. Because she understood the hesitancy in Helper’s voice and where it was coming from.

That woman had tried to gain control of him – had taken him out of Alice’s hand and tried to hack into his mainframe.

Helper shuddered, then he forced himself to hover higher. I will ensure not to be so easily hacked next time, he said, voice dipping low.

It made Alice smile. Explain to me again why you think we should go to the Pegasus, why we should go anywhere near that woman… Alice trailed off.

Did she really need Helper to go through the litany of reasons the little robot could come up with as to why they had to get aboard the Pegasus?

Probably not.

But the potential of risk was so large that Alice would need something huge to get her to move.

According to the ICN, the Pegasus is scheduled to leave in the next five days.

Alice scrunched her nose up.

This was great news, wasn’t it? Commander John Doe was in charge of the Pegasus, and presumably his own ship couldn’t leave without him. Which meant that Alice only had five days until that man would be out of her life.

But she could tell from the way Helper had spoken that he didn’t think this was a good thing.

"It